Speaking of MMA, I can say without a doubt that in it's 13 year history, I have never seen a single aikido technique executed with any success.

That is mainly because all of the fighters are reasonably good. They don't overcommit and they aren't caught by surprise - which IMO, constitutes the two biggest factors necessary for the successful execution of an aikido technique.

As I said, 13 years have passed there really hasn't been any "aikido" at all. I'm betting ANOTHER 13 years could pass and you'd STILL not see it.

He showed us a few Aikido techniques to deal with things like the shoot, but from my own training, I'd say there are better ways of handling the takedown than he showed us. He knew it himself, and when we talked about it he said that most people in class studied Aikido only, so anything they learnt against the shoot was better than nothing.

Agree with Jkogas, I don't think Aikido is suited to MMA, in terms of the sportified MMA. It can work as a means of SD though against different sorts of attacks.

Another point worth making is that my friend said that he wouldn't use Aikido in a MMA tournament even if he could. He said it goes against the spirit of Aikido. That is worth considering too. Maybe Aikido hasn't been used in MMA, or someone hasn't attempted to use it in a MMA comp, as many Aikidoka would view it as going against the spirit of Aikido.

I think John and Prizewriter have pretty much summed it up. Aikido has a different ethos than an MMA like art. That is, Aikidokas primarily train to deal with untrained assailants and common offensive movements. They do not train on the whole to deal with a MMAist with 10 years experience in BJJ and MT. The techniques themselves are generally used against common grabs and strikes that one might expect to see from an untrained person in an everyday self-defense situation, they are not techniques I can see Liddel using.

I am surprised that no one has mentioned that Aikido folks are severely hampered in MMA competition by the rules. Small joint locks are not allowed in MMA competition, despite them being quite effective. They were allowed in my old JKD school's grappling sessions, and I was able to use them sometimes when my armbar attempts failed.

And yes, I know that the early UFC's allowed them. Not sure why more people didn't use them.

_________________________"In case you ever wondered what it's like to be knocked out, it's like waking up from a nightmare only to discover it wasn't a dream." -Forrest Griffin

Quote:I've heard people say this a lot,"Aikido is not good for mma because most martial artists dont commit fully and you cannot do wrist techiques due to the gloves both you and opponent wears."

What do you aikidokas think?

-Tek

I would say that when talking about the sport of MMA (UFC, etc.) Aikido is put at a disadvantage because of the rules. The rules often do not allow small joint manipulation. Furthermore MMA competition requires you to win by knockout or submission (idealy) while Aikido is designed for the self defense strategy of knocking the opponent down and running away. Finaly many of Aikido's advantages such as multiple attackers training and the ability to cause minimal damage to your oponent are not considered in MMA competition.

On the other hand I have seen certain aikido takedowns added to BJJ (specificly the one where you shoot in and push the opponents head back and down to the floor).

I don't give a lot of weight to the small joint manipulation argument. Small joints are much more difficult to control than are large joints -- particularly when you standing up and moving around, firing shots back and forth. Even with that being the case, it's STILL difficult to get submissions on those large joints. Why would small joints thus be easier to manipulate?